In many optical applications composites are required to achieve a desired performance. For some applications the optical clarity of these composites is important. Presence of particles in optical composites can compromise clarity due to the scattering of light, which is caused by a mismatch of the refractive index (RI or index) of the particles and the matrix. Some of the applications now are increasingly using materials that are of high refractive index, such as semiconductors, phosphors used in displays and lighting (e.g., light emitting diode packaging), and with high RI polymeric materials to match the index of these particles will be desirable. While in some other cases, it is desirable to have high index polymeric or organic materials that may be added to the lower index polymer matrices so that opaque composite materials will result.
An object of the present invention is to teach how high index materials that are predominantly organics can be made and used for optical composites that can be used in a variety of applications.